Television sets today can be connected to data networks (e.g., the Internet) and are being marketed as “Smart TVs” because of their data network accessing capabilities, as well as the smartphone-like user interfaces they provide. Smart televisions and smartphones have only recently been able to interact with what is being referred to as “second screen” applications: however, applications that are currently available are limited to the wireless rendering of data that is either provided from a smartphone onto the screen of a flat panel display utilizing small gateway and video streaming devices such those provided by Apple (e.g., Apple TV's Airplay) and Roku or where data associated with programming displayed on the flat panel display is accessed from a remote server (i.e., website) only after identifying a program being watched on a large flat panel display to the server by name or access code. Media sharing to flat panels directly from handhelds to flat panels has also been enabled using other wireless means or standards such as DLNA via a router, and directly with flat panel devices using VOA direct, which has recently been accomplished with applications such as Multiscreen Play (by Hisense), AllJoyn and Snapdragon (by Qualcomm), Content Share (by Haier), Miracast (by Panasonic), SmartShare (by LG), and others. Yet all of these applications are only described for use in sharing data in one direction—from handheld devices to larger flat panel devices.
As of the priority filing date of this invention, a flat panel display (Smart TV) is not known to provide data directly to smartphones following a request initiated at the smartphone. All current data delivery appears limited to what is provided from a handheld device (smartphone) to a large data network-enabled flat panel display (Smart TV), typically by utilizing the screen/data sharing technologies describe above. All current data exchange solutions are also limited to interaction between two devices, a smartphone and a flat panel display/smart TV that are already connected to each other and are wirelessly engaged to provide commands and data from the handheld device to the flat panel display or a smartphone and a remote server based on information obtained about a program being displayed on a flat panel display. There is currently no intermediary device or application that can identify information that is available for smartphone retrieval based on what is being displayed on flat panel displays.
An interesting data access problem presents itself in a scenario where there are several screens displaying multimedia data to spectators located in a public venue (e.g., a sports bar, sports stadium, casino sports book, etc.) rather than a private den or office. No solutions are currently available for spectators utilizing wireless handheld devices to access/select data associated with (or being rendered on) a screen chosen from several screens co-located at the venue whereon various multimedia content is also being displayed. The present inventors believe that spectators/observers at a public venue would like the ability to access specific content being displayed on and/or otherwise interact with what is being displayed on any of the multiple screens. This is especially true with respect to sports programming where fans often desire to access data associated with programming that will enable them to see a video replay or review statistics.